Are Peacebuilding and Education Inseparable? A Conversation with Amir Bergen and Kanstantsin Tsiarokhin
Show notes
I got the chance this week to talk to two amazing young people who have created a friendship, and a space of possibility for learning and peacebuilding that, in other worlds, might have seen them fighting against each other on opposite sides of a battlefield. Amir Bergen and Kanstantsin Tsiarokhin have created Svet Peace Project, that builds on a dialogic approach to learning, as a way to build understanding, empathy and, ultimately, peace across young people of different backgrounds. I got to know them through the United World Colleges (UWC) Short Courses and was very interested to find out more because of the Socratic Seminar approach at the heart of their project. Many educational innovation conversations now for me are orienting around how to reconnect with the very human dimension of what it means to be a learner in the world. And the Socratic Seminar approach is simultaneously ancient, classical and very much alive today in innovative education models. I’ll let Amir and Kanstantsin tell their own stories, but you can find loads of links to their fantastic work in the show notes.
Kanstantsin Tsiarokhin grew up between Minsk, Belarus and Kyiv, Ukraine, absorbing the post-Soviet region's cultural complexity and political tension firsthand. His path in education started early, when he founded conversational English courses in Minsk that brought together students from different backgrounds. That work shaped his belief that people learn best through dialogue. After moving to Berlin in 2022, he learned German and immersed himself in European intellectual traditions before finishing his undergraduate degree at St. John's College. Kanstantsin is now pursuing a master's degree in Classical Leadership, continuing to explore philosophy and pedagogy through the Svet Peace Project, drawing on his cross-cultural background and his belief in dialogue as a way to bring people together.
Amir Bergen is an entrepreneur and a graduate of St. John's College. Born in Russia, he began his education at an Orthodox Classical Gymnasium, which sparked his lifelong interest in tradition and dialogue. His background spans Eastern Europe, with roots and family ties across several countries in the region. Before coming to St. John's, Amir studied at UWC Dilijan in Armenia, where he found a global approach to learning grounded in reflection and shared inquiry. Outside of academia, he founded and built one of Russia's largest vintage clothing stores, growing it into a community around creativity and sustainable fashion. Through his time at St. John's, he came to believe that education should cultivate independence of thought, not just transmit knowledge.
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/amir-bergen-ba10463a7/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanstantsin-tsiarokhin-1ba1b3147/